[Tee tiong huat]

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/conflicts...sives.html

Wa Army Denies to Attack Myanmar Junta’s Triangle Command HQ.

United Wa State Army (UWSA) said on Wednesday that it had no plan to attack Kengtung in eastern Shan State, where the Myanmar military’s Triangle Region Command is based. Rumors have swirling since for week that Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic army would attempt to seize Kengtung aft assumed control of Hopang and Panlong towns in northern Shan State earlier this month.

To squash rumors, UWSA released a statement on Wednesday saying it maintain its truce with the Myanmar govt, pledging neutrality in ongoing armed conflicts & vowing not to intervene in any way. UWSA liaison officer Nyi Rang confirmed the statement.

Following China-brokered talks on Jan. 10-11 in Kunming, the regime & Brotherhood Alliance 3ethnic armies—Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army—agreed temporary ceasefire in northern Shan State. UWSA said in its statement it hoped all ethnic armed groups would observe the ceasefire.

The UWSA has provided shelter for civilians displaced by fighting since the Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 in late October in northern Shan. It has also facilitated the return of junta soldiers who surrendered to the Brotherhood Alliance, as well as civilians, to their battalions and homes through its territory.

After splitting from the Communist Party of Burma, the UWSA signed a ceasefire in 1989 with the then military regime known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council

Both former president ex-general Thein Sein and current junta chief Min Aung Hlaing have served as Triangle Region Command chief. The current commander is Major General Aung Khine Win.

The UWSA refers to the approximately 1,500-sq-km area comprising Mongmao, Monglin and Mongpauk districts plus Panghsang Special Township as “northern Wa State”. During the 1990s, the ethnic army expanded its territory to include Monghsat District on the border with Thailand in southern Shan State, with the agreement of the then junta. The UWSA refers to the district as “southern Wa State”.
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/wa-...nd-hq.html